Panoramic radiography is a well known mode of imaging used in dentistry. Panoramic radiographs (a.k.a. pan-oral images) provide an overall view of the dentomaxillofacial complex and are used to aid patient diagnosis.
When attempting to image the dentition of a patient to form a pan-oral image, it is desirable to have the dentition be within the focal trough formed by the pan-oral imaging system (a.k.a. a panoramic imaging system). In general, a focal trough is a horseshoe-shaped zone of sharpness used by the pan-oral x-ray system and is generally fixed in three-dimensional space. Dentition placed within the focal trough will appear relatively clear and in focus on a film or display. The focal trough of the pan-oral x-ray system is a three-dimensional curved zone in which dentition and other structures are reasonably well defined on the panoramic radiographs. Structures behind or in front of the focal trough will tend to be distorted, reduced in size, blurred, or magnified. Therefore, the limited dimensions of the focal trough with respect to the patient's dentition, operator error, and machine age or mis-alignment may cause errors to occur in the anatomy of interest shown on the acquired image.
Today, a number of different approximation profiles of dentition may be collected and stored in a pan-oral imaging machine. A user may then select the approximation profile that the user decides is the closest match to the current patient. The pan-oral imaging machine will then follow that profile, regardless of the actual dentition of the patient.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with the subject matter of the present application as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.